The Latest Fallout….

This season has been one of the most painful I can remember. Throughout the pain, I have listened to other opinions, and changed my tune several times. Until Saturday, I had moved into the “let Gene Chizik finish the season” camp.

No more. I want him gone…..NOW.

There is absolutely no purpose served by keeping him around another year at this point. Recruiting is done. The season is done. The team has quit, the coaches have quit, and the fans have quit. I have no desire to watch the games anymore. This team is an embarrasment to the university at this point.

Before you start screaming, sit down. I don’t blame the kids on the team….not one damn bit. It’s not the kids’ fault. They aren’t professionals. This isn’t the NFL. They are 18-23 year old KIDS. Their mentality and effort is completely derived from the coaches, and the coaches are failing at a monumental level this year. You can’t blame the players, not at the NCAA level. You can’t blame their lack of talent. These kids were almost all 4 and 5 star recruiits in high school. They didn’t ALL come to Auburn and suddenly start sucking. What has happened is the coaches that are paid millions of dollars per year to develop young talent have failed to do their job, and even worse, have given up at this point.

I had said at the end of last year that this will be the season where we find out whether or not Gene Chizik can coach. This is the season where we find out whether that 5-19 record at Iowa State was due to a lack of resources and talent, or if it was due to his lack of ability to lead a program. Unfortunately, the answer has become quite clear.

Gene Chizik can’t coach.

Make no mistake about it: this is HIS program now. His players, his hires, his coaches, his decisions, his schemes. We see the results: massive failure on every level. I’ll say it again, he and his staff have failed on every single level. His hire of Brian VanGorder hasn’t panned out, and he’ll probably be gone at the end of the year. Scot Loeffler has been the worst OC hire I can ever remember at Auburn, even worse than the whole Tony Franklin debacle. On top of that, Chizik has refused to demote or fire him, choosing to stubbornly stick with something that is NOT working in a vain attempt to prove everybody wrong.

Unfortunately, as everyone knows, Chizik is not the only problem we have. The biggest problem we have is Jay Jacobs, Pat Dye, and the good ol’ boys network that consists of a bunch of rich boosters that all think they should be running the program because they have money. The results scream otherwise. I have said it many times on here, and I will reiterate it one more time: The problem will NEVER be fixed as long as Jay Jacobs is the Athletic Director. If we fire Chizik and keep Jacobs, the good ol’ boy network will dictate another ‘family’ hire that they believe they can control, and in 2-3 years , we will all be back right here on TrackEmTigers, saying the same things, complaining about the same problems, after 2-3 years of people saying ‘let’s give him a chance!’

We have to CLEAN HOUSE. First, a hardcore, professional Athletic Director must be hired. He has to be someone that doesn’t answer to boosters, doesn’t listen to Pat Dye and the good ol’ boys, and is given total autonomy by Jay Gogue to do as he sees fit. After that, we hire a big name, hardcore, possibly NFL coach that can compete with Nick Saban both in name and ability, and he has to be told “it’s your program, do whatever you want.” That is the only way we will get a good coach, and that is the only way we will get back to winning again.

The answers are out there. The solution is simple. The question is whether or not Jay Gogue has the stones to do what needs to be done. The entire blogosphere sees it, as does most of the regular media. Auburn football, and the entire athletic department, is in shambles. The turds are up in Tuscaloser laughing with glee as they rack up wins and championships. Oh, how quickly they forgot the 90’s. It’ll happen to them again, too. It happens to all of us. All that remains at this point is for the university leadership to fix it. Tough choices have to be made. Do we have the cajones to make them?

Aware of historical lows? “I haven’t studied the record books, but you have to know historically it has to be at the very bottom, or very close. That’s obvious to everyone who was at the game.”

“I feel like there’s an urgency. I’ve been very proud of the players, this is very difficult. For our coaches as well. Day in and day out when we go to work and we put ourselves in the middle of it, there’s an urgency. There’s never a sense of ‘woe is me’.”

Have you been through something like this season before? “Probably not like this, no. When you do this long enough, you have a chance to come to these valleys. We’re in it, and we’re going to work to get out of it.”

Thoughts having No. 120 total offense, No. 119 scoring offense? “It’s very disappointing. You try to submerge yourself in work and improve and get better. You can pick out areas that are disappointing, but none more than the fact we’re 1-7.”

On fans leaving early and keeping them engaged? “I feel a high responsibility to our fans. We have great fans and they want to see us win. When we looked at the film, you could see a lot of them left. Based on the production on what they saw, I understand. I want to encourage them there will be a better day and part of Auburn is coming to support their team. I want to encourage everyone to come out and support our guys, it’s all about the players. I want to reach out to them.”

Aware of anger in fanbase? “I don’t have time for the outside, although I respect everyone’s opinion. I’m sure at 1-7, there’s a lot of upset fans. That comes with the territory.”

Thoughts on President Jay Gogue’s statement? “I’ve got one focus, and that’s our young guys going out and getting a win. It’s the only option (now), and it’s the only option when you’re undefeated too. I’ve never been able to pay attention to outside distractions, good or bad. When you’re great, everybody loves you. I don’t change and listen when it’s good, and not when it’s bad. If you’re focused on your job, you do your job. That’s not part of your job, in my opinion.”

If Gene Chizik’s response doesn’t make you angry… you are non-human.

His BL: I don’t care.

I am right there with you D. And I was there on Saturday evening… well, at least up until the point I couldn’t take it anymore (42-7).

Chizik is a clown. And his don’t give a crap about what anyone else thinks attitude is exactly what’s wrong with these players. That is why there isn’t any improvement… in fact, that is why this team has regressed, if not completely collapsed.

Get ready. Because that loss is only going to be repeated by folks that don’t care about being merciful. The UGA and bama games…. I am not watching. I’ll be in the woods. Doesn’t mean I don’t love AU. I simply can’t take the beating like this without being able to do something. I can control only what I have been given the authority to control. This one is on Jay Jacobs and Dr. Gouge. I only hope AU is able to pick up the peices.

I said it before… I will say it again….YEARS. It will be 5 to 10 years before AU fully recovers from Gene Chizik. The current count is two years… and running. Starting in 2011 till now we are 8 W’s-12 L’s so far. Its only getting worse… by the day.

If what you say is true, we’ll never win again because there is no way we are getting a big name, elite NFL coach to come to Auburn, not just right now, but ever. This is escpecially true right now. If we could’ve pulled it off, then we should have done it 4 years ago. Why did we hire Chizik? The bottom line is, that was the best we could do then under the circumstances & now the circumstances are even more grave, so the answer to who are we are going to end up with should be obvious.

Also, the 90s weren’t really bad for them against us. I think they were like 7-3 & were literally a footstep in ’95 & a bad play call in ’97 from being 9-1 against us. Now we owned that *ss in the 00s.

Take a deep breath and try to relax. This is like passing a kidney stone….its unbelievably painful and you want to scream until your head pops off your neck, BUT just like a kidney stone…it will pass.

Don’t worry, its all going to burn to the ground. Grab some marshmallows and enjoy the warmth of the blaze.

But remember, we aren’t going to get ANYBODY worth ANYTHING to take the AD or HC position. We just aren’t. We don’t have that kind of rep. and we are firing a coach that just won a National Championship. ( I know it has been 2 years, but to the general public it just happened) Nobody worth a damn will touch these jobs with a 10 foot poll. I mean, would you? I know this has been an HISTORICALLY awful season, but to those outside the program they just see us firing a national championship coach after his first losing season. The coaching change is MORE than warranted, but we still look like a bunch of spoiled a-holes, and nobody that has a good name or reputation will take our job, no matter how much we give them. We will be forced to take somebody young and unproven and hope for the best.
We are either going to bounce back very quickly or we will hover around bowl elibility for the next 4-5 years until we fire the next guy and then who know. So whether you like it, or don’t like it…..learn to love it.

That is why COL that I think AU does nothing here. I think your logic is sound… besides I see no action to the contrary.

We won’t fire Chizik for another year or two. AU will say goodbye only when he doesn’t have any money due at termination. Personally, considering the lack of care from Chizik on this whole mess… I can live with that if he can. Ride his ass until it drops or he leaves voluntarily. He will think he is an abused army mule when its all said and done.

But no matter how you slice it… that is bad for AU. Any gains made in the last 15 years will be gone. AU will start back at ground zero.

I do think AU could attract a quality candidate just on the position. Whenever that happens… regardless… AU will have to get out its check book. If you want the best… you got to spend to get it. Only then will AU start on even ground.

Euuqewwww. This is going to hurt! Pass another marshmellow! Heck, I will take two!!!!

I have to agree with nearly everthing you say. One exception being that Van Gorder has not panned out. The defense has actually improved but since the offense is so pathetic the defense is literally spending 45 minutes of a 60 minute game on the field. The defense has zero support from the offense and it reflects in the players attitudes and effort. It’s obvious that they have given up and are playing out the string, just trying to make it through this season without getting seriously hurt.

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